The Vertigo Tarot by Dave McKean, illustrator of among many other good things the Sandman comics, was reissued in August. The cards, loosely based on characters from DCs Vertigo comic inprint, are among the most uneasily beautiful interpretations I've ever seen.
The original set was in a limited edition of 5000 copies and is changing hands for suitably outrageous sums on ebay. The new edition (slightly smaller cards) retails around the $30 mark.posted by thatwhichfalls (14 comments total)
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the metafilter police are on high alert. maybe i shouldve made fun of Bush in a link, then im sure itd still be up.posted by Satapher at 6:59 PM on November 14, 2001

another good dave mckean webpage is www.dreamline.nu. He was one of my earliest inspirations with my own work (if you really wanna see that, you can click on my profile for the url), and still continues to be to this day in one form or another. He was one of the first to demonstrate that the computer can be used as an artistic medium and I commend him for that. Also, fans of mckean should deffinately check out his comic Cages and also Violent Cases.posted by atom128 at 7:35 PM on November 14, 2001

oh man, my local comic book store has this and i'm dying to get it. i'm attempting to come up with reasons for why i would spend 30 dollars on something like this though.. but it just looks so beautiful, and i love the vertigo series... hellblazer as "the fool"? genius!

i need to make some new friends before christmas, so i can convince them to get this for me.posted by lotsofno at 7:45 PM on November 14, 2001

Hey, odd. Just four minutes ago I was introduced to Sandman... Enjoying it much. This has been a good week for comic posts.posted by j.edwards at 7:48 PM on November 14, 2001

Keep in mind though that they card-stock they are printed on is shite. Apparently Karen Berger (head honcho at DC/Vertigo) had chosen excellent stock for them to be printed on and for some unknown reason this order wasn't followed through. Instead the printers published the deck on flimsy stock which doesn't do justice to the cards. Makes them nearly impossible to use as a regular deck of cards anyway, try shuffling them and they will get ruined.posted by samishah at 7:50 PM on November 14, 2001

My ex-wife took my deck, I think. I didn't care at the time but if a first-run of those cards is going for good money on Ebay, I could have really used that right now. Oh well. She also took my Star Wars Episode One Taco Bell glass collection. Believe me, I STILL don't miss that.

it's a bit sad because, as samishah states, the card stock of the reissue is so inferior to the original release - i have the original box, and the cards are nice & thick

i don't know whether this warrants paying the ludicrous eBay price for the original set - but it's close ...posted by mschmidt at 12:56 AM on November 15, 2001

I have a first run of McKean's Vertigo Tarot, with the book. Problem is that the box was trashed in my last move. So... damned... pissed when that happened.posted by eyeballkid at 12:57 AM on November 15, 2001

The stock on Particle Tarot is perfect. It's one of my favorite McKean items.. I'd say Cages is my favorite but I need to replace it 'cause my hardcover has serious damage (retailer discount and all is nice, but I want a decent looking copy).

Particle Tarot uses lots of silver and gold inks, which do wonders for McKean's photography. On the 1997 Calendar he did the gold ink pieces are also my favorites. So call me a sucker for shiny shit.

And yea, the tarot reissue stock is shite, but theres no way in hell I'm paying the asking price on an original set.posted by unlinear at 6:59 AM on November 15, 2001

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